12 Top Korean Serums for That Glassy Glow
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Searching for the top Korean serums to add to your skincare routine? Serums have become integral in the world of skincare, so we don’t blame you.
Serums are potent products that help you reach skincare goals more easily and quickly. They deliver healthy ingredients that your skin needs to remain in tip-top shape.
A little goes a long way when it comes to serums. Many different brands offer their own line. But what are the top ones you should try out?
Read on for our list of the top Korean skincare serums you can try!
- Slows down signs of skin aging
- Hydrates and nourishes the skin
- Evens out skin texture
- Helps remove skin dullness
- Evens out skin tone
- Helps you achieve healthy skin
- Hydrates and brightens skin
- Faces fine lines and wrinkle
- Keeps skin’s moisture barrier balanced
12 Top Korean Serums for Your Skin Concerns
Ready to nourish your skin with the top serums from Korea? Here are our top picks for your specific skin concerns!
Top Korean Serums for Dull Skin
This amazing Korean serum provides all the benefits of vitamin C via a gentle formula.
Key Benefits: fades hyperpigmentation, brightens the skin; can be used to treat acne scars, minimizes pores
Features:
- Gentle vitamin C concentration (5%), making it perfect for sensitive skin
- Lightweight formula easily absorbed by the skin
- Fragrance-free and irritant-free
A gentle Vitamin C serum that even people with sensitive skin can use!
Looking for a vitamin C serum that won’t likely irritate your skin? Check out Dear Klairs’ Freshly Juiced Vitamin C serum.
It only has a 5% concentration of vitamin C, making it gentle yet potent enough even for people with sensitive skin.
The serum is also lightweight and easily absorbed by the skin. Plus, it’s non-comedogenic, so you don’t have to worry if you have acne-prone skin.
Loved by many worldwide, Dear Klairs’ vitamin C serum deserves a try. See the benefits yourself!
This awesome serum is packed with the vitamins our skin needs!
Key Benefits: helps remove skin dullness, evens out skin tone, helps you achieve healthy skin
Features:
- Packed with numerous vitamins (A, B, C, D, E, and K)
- Formulated with 86.14% of vitamin tree extract, cica, hyaluronic acid, and matricaria flower extract
- Vegan formula and free from alcohol and fragrances
Keep your skin healthy by giving it an amazing cocktail of nutrients using JUMISO’s All Day Vitamin Serum!
Look no further if you’re looking for a serum jam-packed with all the nutrients your skin loves.
This JUMISO serum contains multiple vitamins that help nourish skin and slow skin aging. Apart from this, it also has vitamin tree extract, hyaluronic acid, cica, and more!
These good ingredients are formulated into one lightweight formula, and your skin absorbs it easily. Give it a try and treat your skin to a nourishing cocktail of vitamins!
This K-beauty serum’s effective brightening properties use only natural ingredients.
Key Benefits: brightens and improves skin tone and provides glowing skin
Features:
- Formulated with white lupin seed and white daisy extract
- Has a gel-like formula that quickly seeps into the skin
- Formulated with mostly natural ingredients
Help your skin achieve a bright glow with The Face Shop’s Whiteseed Brightening Serum!
Brightening your skin doesn’t mean you have to use irritating serums. The Face Shop’s Whiteseed Brightening Serum contains all-natural ingredients that are all skin friendly.
The serum has white lupin seed and white daisy extract that helps brighten and hydrate your skin. Your skin will surely love its light, gel-like texture.
Top Korean Serums for Mature Skin
We love this holy-grail ampoule because of its potent anti-aging benefits.
Primary Benefits: slows down signs of skin aging, hydrates and nourishes skin, evens out skin texture
Features:
- Formulated with 77% bifida ferment lysate and several other probiotic ingredients
- Contains purple superfood ingredients
- Can be used by all skin types
Discover the anti-aging power of MISSHA’s Time Revolution Night Repair Ampoule!
This Korean serum is popular all around the world, and for good reason. Many have witnessed the visible benefits MISSHA’s Time Revolution ampoule has provided.
The serum is made with 10 probiotics and a mix of purple superfood ingredients that nourish and hydrate skin, whatever type it is.
Because of the extreme fermentation process that its ingredients went through to preserve their benefits, you’re sure to expect a powerful boost in its active ingredients after just ten hours of use!
Leave this overnight, and you’ll wake up with rejuvenated, restored skin!
Be one of the many who swear by this product, and try it out today!
This incredible serum provides potent anti-aging benefits using a lightweight formulation.
Key Benefits: helps repair damaged skin, fades hyperpigmentation and signs of skin aging, hydrates skin, maintains the skin’s elasticity
Features:
- Contains 3% snail mucus filtrate
- Formulated with 80% ginseng root water
- Has a lightweight, runny texture that is easily absorbed by the skin
Attain that youthful glow by using Beauty of Joseon’s Revive serum!
Keep that youthful glow by trying out Beauty of Joseon’s Revive Serum. This product contains ginseng and snail mucus filtrate to help your skin look young and healthy.
The serum is inspired by historical beauty trends popular in Korea’s Joseon dynasty.
Also backed by science, it has ingredients that help improve skin elasticity, fade fine lines and wrinkles, and slow skin aging.
Rejuvenate your skin with this fantastic K-beauty serum!
This wonderful serum functions as an effective multitasker that targets various visible skin concerns.
Key Benefits: hydrates and brightens skin, fades fine lines and wrinkles, keeps skin’s moisture barrier balanced
Features:
- Formulated with Sulwhasoo’s proprietary herbal cocktail, JAUM Activator
- Lightweight, easily absorbed formula
- Perfect for all skin types
Experience the power of natural anti-aging ingredients when you use Sulwhasoo’s First Care Activating Serum.
Despite its hefty price tag, this Sulwhasoo serum sells out quickly, and we can tell why people love it!
The serum has the brand’s blend of herbal extracts that target six different skin concerns, including hydration and moisture, wrinkles, skin brightness, and translucency.
This highly effective serum is formulated to have a lightweight texture that’s perfect for all skin types!
This nourishing serum rejuvenates your skin and evens out your skin for a youthful, flawless glow.
Key Benefits: strengthens the skin barrier, promotes healthy skin turnover and collagen production, reduces blemishes and skin texture, anti-aging
Features:
- Contains snail filtrate and bee venom
- Light, non-sticky formula
- Perfect for all skin types
Use Benton’s Snail Bee Ultimate Serum and breathe new life into your skin!
Restore your skin without worrying about irritants, and try out Benton’s Snail Bee serum.
Formulated with snail filtrate and bee venom, this ultimate serum has potent anti-aging ingredients that help retain your skin’s youthful appearance.
It promotes healthy skin turnover and collagen production, keeping your skin firm, soft, and supple. It also improves your skin’s elasticity, so you won’t be worrying about any sagging for a long while
The serum is lightweight, so it easily sinks into your skin. Perfect for every skin type. If you want a potent anti-aging serum, this is the one to get!
Top Korean Serums for Dry Skin
This ultra-hydrating serum offers your skin intensive nourishing ingredients.
Key Benefits: hydrates and moisturizes skin, fades hyperpigmentation, clarifies and protects skin from damage, helps calm irritated skin
Features:
- Formulated with nourishing truffle oil
- Combines the benefits of nourishing oil and serum in one product
- Lightweight and easily absorbed by the skin
Improve your skin’s moisture barrier using Neogen Dermalogy’s White Truffle Serum!
A perfect marriage of the top properties of an oil and a serum, Neogen’s White Truffle Serum provides your skin with intense moisturization, nourishment, and damage protection.
Apart from this, it also helps clarify and brighten your skin, making you look gleaming and healthy.
While it’s partly an oil, its texture remains lightweight and non-oily. Maintain skin health with the Neogen serum!
This popular Korean serum has made waves online for its ultra-hydrating properties.
Key Benefits: hydrates and moisturizes skin, helps fight signs of skin aging, promotes skin elasticity
Features:
- Formulated with three types of hyaluronic acids
- Contains panthenol for extra hydration
- Lightweight, water-based texture that is easily absorbed by the skin
Quench your skin’s thirst by using this hydrating COSRX serum!
COSRX is a popular Korean skincare brand known worldwide, and we can see why.
They provide skincare products that can target a wide array of skin concerns, and their Hydrium Triple Hyaluronic Moisture Ampoule is just one of them.
If your skin is parched, you may want to try this serum out. It contains three different types of hyaluronic acid for intense hydration and adds panthenol for even more hydration.
It’s also water-based, so your skin won’t have any problem absorbing it.
This K-beauty serum’s moisture-boosting benefits effectively replenish dry, parched skin.
Primary Benefits: provides intense skin hydration, smoothens skin texture, fights signs of skin aging
Features:
- Has hyaluronic acid to provide your skin with hydration
- Formulated with ceramide and French seawater to moisturize your skin
- Perfect for all skin types
Give your skin some much-needed moisture and hydration using AHC’s Aqualuronic Serum!
Another serum that provides intense moisture and hydration is AHC’s Aqualuronic Serum. Many K-beauty enthusiasts have sworn by this product for its ultra-hydrating benefits.
The serum is formulated with hyaluronic acid and mineral-rich seawater from the coastlines of France to protect your skin’s natural moisture barrier.
On top of this, the serum has AHC’s ceramide complex to boost skin hydration.
Never leave your skin thirsty again by adding AHC’s Aqualuronic Serum to your skincare arsenal.
Top Korean Serums for Acne-Prone and Sensitive Skin
This incredible serum replenishes lost moisture and locks it in.
Key Benefits: hydrates and moisturizes skin, improves skin’s microscopic ecosystem
Features:
- Contains green tea seed extract
- Formulated with hyaluronic acid
- Lightweight formula that is easily absorbed by the skin
Treat your skin with some nourishment and hydration from Innisfree’s The Green Tea Seed serum!
If you have acne-prone or sensitive skin, you don’t have to be scared of using serums. Innisfree’s The Green Tea Seed Serum is one that’s tailor-made for you.
This popular serum contains Green Tea Seed extracts and hyaluronic acid that keeps your skin hydrated. Trust us, the extra moisture won’t break you out.
That’s because Innisfree’s Green Tea Tri-Biotics™ keeps your skin’s ecosystem healthy and balanced.
This outstanding K-beauty serum calms and soothes oily acne-prone skin.
Key Benefits: controls overproduction of sebum, minimizes pores, strengthens skin, hydrating and moisturizing
Features:
- Formulated with tea tree water extract for sebum control
- Has Asiatic pennywort extract for soothing skin
- Formulated with a pH level of 5.5, keeping the skin healthy and balanced
A holy-grail item for acne-prone people, try out Some by Mi’s 30 Days Miracle Serum!
Soothe troubled skin by using this Miracle Serum by Some By Mi. It’s formulated with tea tree water extract that helps control the overproduction of sebum on your skin.
Apart from this, it also has Asiatic pennywort extract, which helps calm acne down while improving the skin’s protective barrier.
It’s also free of irritants and contains moisturizing properties to keep your skin looking fresh and healthy!
Before You Buy a Korean Serum, Know This
Similar to any other skincare product, these serums are always made differently. As such, there are numerous things that you need to consider before purchasing one. Here’s our cheat sheet!
Your Skin Type
The top place to start when looking for any skincare product? Your skin type. Korean serums often contain a variety of ingredients to address different skin types.
Here’s a table listing common ingredients and their suitability for various skin types:
| Ingredient | Normal Skin | Oily Skin | Dry Skin | Combination Skin |
| Hyaluronic acid | Hydrates and retains moisture | Hydrates but can be heavy | Essential for hydration | Provides hydration |
| Niacinamide | Evens out skin tone, reduces redness | Regulates oil production | Helps repair the skin barrier | Balances oil and moisture |
| Glycerin | Provides gentle hydration | Light and non-comedogenic | Attracts and locks in moisture | Hydrates without clogging pores |
| Salicylic acid | Not typically necessary | Controls sebum and exfoliates | Use sparingly or avoid | Spot treatment for oily areas |
| Aloe vera | Soothes and moisturizes | Soothes and hydrates | Soothes and moisturizes | Soothes and balances |
| Tea tree oil | Rarely needed for normal skin | Targets acne and controls oil | May irritate dry skin | Spot treatment for blemishes |
| Vitamin C | Enhances radiance and evens tone | Controls oil and brightens | Brightens and fights dryness | Brightens and addresses oil |
| Centella asiatica | Calms and soothes | Reduces inflammation | Hydrates and repairs the skin barrier | Soothes and balances |
| Ceramides | Maintain skin’s barrier function | May be too heavy | Essential for repairing the barrier | Helps balance the barrier |
Your Skin Concerns
A wide variety of nourishing and effective skincare ingredients are used in serums. To narrow your search for the perfect serum, look for any of these top Korean serum ingredients for your skin concern:
Sensitive Skin
- Centella asiatica: Soothes and calms irritated skin.
- Aloe vera: Provides gentle hydration and reduces redness.
- Glycerin: Hydrates without causing irritation.
- Hyaluronic acid: Retains moisture and enhances skin’s barrier.
- Allantoin: Promotes skin healing and reduces sensitivity.
- Panthenol: Acts as a skin conditioner and reduces inflammation.
Mature Skin
- Retinol: Stimulates collagen production and reduces fine lines.
- Peptides: Support collagen and elastin production, firming the skin.
- Hyaluronic acid: Hydrates and plumps, minimizing the appearance of wrinkles.
- Vitamin C: Evens skin tone, brightens, and reduces age spots.
- Niacinamide: Improves skin texture, minimizes pores, and reduces fine lines.
- Ceramides: Enhance the skin’s barrier function, keeping it hydrated.
Acne-Prone Skin
- Salicylic acid: Exfoliates inside pores, reducing acne and blackheads.
- Niacinamide: Regulates oil production and reduces inflammation.
- Tea tree oil: Fights acne-causing bacteria and reduces breakouts.
- Centella asiatica: Calms inflammation and speeds up acne healing.
- Azelaic acid: Reduces redness, inflammation, and post-acne marks.
- Lactic acid: Exfoliates dead skin cells, preventing clogged pores.
Hyperpigmentation
- Vitamin C: Evens out skin tone, brightens dark spots, and reduces hyperpigmentation.
- Niacinamide: Reduces the appearance of dark spots and uneven skin tone.
- Alpha arbutin: Inhibits melanin production, targeting hyperpigmentation.
- Licorice root extract: Lightens dark spots and reduces hyperpigmentation.
- Kojic acid: Blocks melanin production, fading dark spots.
- Tranexamic acid: Addresses stubborn pigmentation and evens skin tone.
Dull Skin
- Vitamin C: Brightens and evens skin tone.
- Niacinamide: Improves skin texture and radiance.
- Hyaluronic acid: Hydrates and plumps the skin.
- Glycolic acid: Exfoliates and improves skin texture.
- Ferulic acid: Provides antioxidant protection.
- Licorice root extract: Reduces pigmentation and evens skin tone.
Serums Pack Intense Nourishment
While your skin can naturally be healthy, sometimes it needs a boost in hydration and nutrition. Try adding an incredible Korean serum into your skincare routine when it does.
There are many types of serums to choose from, and many of them are already proven effective. However, hopefully, this article has given you a good starting point for selecting the right one.
Don’t be afraid to try and experiment with skincare. Many serums are safe, and many of them bring tremendous benefits to your skin. See how a K-beauty serum can bring you closer to your skincare goals by trying it out!
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